Deepfake Spotter

Signs of an AI-made photo

• Hands — extra fingers, fused fingers, bent wrong way. AI still struggles with hands.
• Teeth — too even, too white, weird gaps.
• Earrings/jewelry — mismatched (one earring different from other).
• Background text — gibberish, slightly wrong logos.
• Eyes — pupils not round, reflections don\'t match.
• Hair edges — too smooth, no individual strands.
• Skin — too smooth, no pores.
• Background — soft "painted" look, weird perspective.

Signs of a deepfake video

• Lip-sync slightly off — voice doesn\'t quite match mouth movement.
• Skin texture wrong at certain angles.
• Face doesn\'t match the lighting of the rest of the scene.
• Facial expressions don\'t match the words.
• Edges around face flicker.
• Eye blinks unnatural — too rare or too even.
• Politicians/celebrities saying things they\'d never say. Search the news to verify.

Signs of an AI voice

• Slightly robotic cadence.
• No background noise or breathing.
• Says "your grandson" not your grandson\'s NAME.
• Refuses to talk freely — sticks to short urgent script.
• Won\'t say a family safe-word when asked. (See our Safe-Word Kit.)

What to do when in doubt

1. Verify on Google. Type the news headline + "fact check". Snopes, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.
2. Reverse-image-search any photo you receive. Right-click → "Search Google for image".
3. For "my grandchild needs money" calls — hang up. Call the real grandchild on their normal number. Or ask for the family safe-word.
4. For political claims — wait 24 hours. Real shocking news will be everywhere; a fake video is often debunked within a day.
5. Don\'t share what you can\'t verify. Sharing fakes spreads them.

Tools to help

• Content Credentials (c2pa.org) — emerging standard. "C" icon on photos shows AI-generated or edited.
• Deepware Scanner — free, scans video for deepfake signs.
• InVID Verify — browser tool for journalists to verify videos.